It simply began in March as a ‘100 days, 100 reels challenge’ to tide over a “content slump”.
Ninety days after they first posted “the least cringe” reel they could think of, three members of the now famous ‘Vikkals’ tied towels around their head like pretend hair, while the fourth laughed uncontrollably behind the camera. Together, they danced to the famous Nannare Song from the 2007 film Guru.
The reel titled ‘90s Annual day dance’ got nearly 25 million views on Instagram. Their parody of girls dancing at annual day events in the 1990s and early 2000s struck a chord on social media.
In their search for content, the ‘Vikkals’—a comedy group in Chennai—found their sweet spot: they took the collective obsession for reels and branded them with their take on popular Tamil culture. This group of millennials and Gen Z toppled cult songs and films from their pedestals, and re-introduced Tamil cinema songs with a healthy dose of their trademark irreverence. The reels were an instant hit.
Starting from ‘Jolly o Gymkhana’ from the Vijay-starrer Beast, their parodies of Tamil film music have gone viral.
Within 10 minutes of posting a funny version of a song from Dhanush’s Anegan, their Instagram account was on fire: Climbing from 10k views to almost three million.
“That day we decided recording reels was our identity,” says stand-up comedian and actor Vikram Arul Vidyapathi, who set up the ‘OG’ Vikkals YouTube channel in 2019, which has now grown into a hilarious reel-churning comedy collective.
Since they launched the daily reels less than four months ago, Vikram and Hari Muniayappan—the duo most visible in the clips–saw a massive uptick in their Instagram follower count. Vikram’s climbed from 6,000 to 74,000, and Hari’s from 600 to 55,000 in a matter of weeks.
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The ‘natural’ style
In early July, Vikkals’ content migrated for the first time over to Twitter via a Tamil meme page. The parody of the famous song ‘Nilavai Konduvaa’ from the 1999 film Valli became so popular it caught the attention of famous Tamil director SJ Surya who retweeted it.
In the reel, the comedy group takes the sensual rendition of ‘Nilavai Konduvaa’ and turns it on its head. The reel shows Hari covered in a shawl running a fever, singing with a deadpan expression, while Vikram who plays the female playback singer Anuradha Sriram gives it all he has, Sibi Jayakumar as music director Deva is seen instructing the two.
On Instagram, actor Siddharth commented on the reel using laughing emojis. Later, music director Deva spoke to Vikram to say the reel was “very natural” and he had watched it at least a dozen times. Actress Simran shared the reel on her Instagram profile.
Vikkals were now the talk of the town. By then, the 100th day reel challenge was already behind them. Comments poured in: “Brooo, vera level bro,” wrote an Instagram user. “God bestestest!!!” said another.
Most of the reels are filmed in the dubbing studio near Vikram’s house in Saligramam. The response to the ‘90s Annual day dance’ was also overwhelming. “In every version of the song whether Hindi, Tamil, Telugu…the parts Jal Jal Jal Jal and Nannare Nannare remain the same, so the reel was relatable to everyone,” says Vikram.
He demonstrates various dance moves teachers uniformly seem to choreograph in those years: Radha Krishna step, suryan formation, and the stepping in and out of a circle. “Don’t you remember that one classical dancer student in your school, who always kicks off annual day events?” he asks.
In the Nannare reel, Vikram claims to be “dancing well”, while to his left Hari is seen exercising, and Sibi kicks aside a pair of black shorts. Behind the iPhone, trying very hard not to laugh out loud, is Athithya A, the editor of the reels.
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Product of everyday banter
On a Friday afternoon, the Vikkals, aged between 23 and 27 years, lounge about Vikram’s parents’ house in the western suburbs of Chennai. The family dog ‘Jio’ — “yes, named after Ambani’s Jio” — sleeps in a corner.
Hari was given the task of switching on the air conditioner and the banter that followed set the tone for the interview.
“But there are no buttons on this,” Hari exclaimed, poking at the AC. “Hari, why don’t you climb on the other chair? Or step on the window grill?” suggested Vikram. “Please don’t uninstall the AC and hand it to me,” he teased.
They riff off each other and their quick comebacks often form the genesis of a new idea. Most of their reels are products of such hangouts. “We keep listening to different songs and all of us come up with ideas. “I don’t think we even know what works and doesn’t, we do what we enjoy,” said Athithya.
The way they describe it: They are lazing about on Vikram’s bed, which often makes an appearance in their videos, or chatting away at his father’s office a few blocks away and then…BAM! “I think we are always having fun as a group. We are almost always in a light mood, joking around,” Athithya says.
Athithya doubles up as filmmaker and director on shoot days. The LC 500 light also makes an appearance. “Sometimes the boys improvise and jump around the space, and even fall down,” he laughs. Even when the others go off script, he says: “I have to keep the video rolling.”
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Making the family understand
A series of trial and error in their own personal journeys led to the four Vikkals banding together. Sibi and Vikram met via Instagram. “I saw one of Vikram’s videos and messaged him,” says Sibi. The duo started collaborating in September 2019.
Athithya used to edit Vikram’s videos remotely from Madurai, and Sibi and Hari made content, once upon a time, for a now-failed YouTube channel in Coimbatore.
As for Hari, he met Vikram via Sibi, for a shoot where he imagined he was going to be an actor. “I wasn’t even in the frame that day,” says Hari, leaving the three others in splits. “I was made to stand in for the light boy.”
For all their Insta fame, the Vikkals still seek validation from their families over their choice to make a living. They may be loved by fans, but their parents struggle to understand this “new age” content creation which is still not seen on par with working in mainstream Tamil cinema.
“Our long term goal would be to build a brand called Vikkals that serves as our launch pad into the cinema industry.” But for now, all the Vikkals’ agree that the most important thing is “to have fun with our content”. The rest will follow.
(Edited by Prashant)